The present disclosure relates to an image processing apparatus and method, and a program. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an image processing apparatus and method, and a program that are capable of easily calibrating an error due to an offset of a camera in an image-capturing direction when a disparity image (depth image) is to be generated.
A technology of capturing an image of the same subject from different angles by using a plurality of cameras and generating a disparity image (depth image) on the basis of a corresponding point search of the parallax directions of individual images is generally becoming popular.
In general, when generating a disparity image, if an offset between image-capturing directions of a plurality of cameras occurs, an error will occur, and an accurate disparity image will not be obtained. For this reason, when a disparity image is to be generated, calibration for minimizing an error that occurs due to an offset between the image-capturing directions of the cameras is necessary.
Regarding calibration, a technology in which, for example, an image called a calibration pattern, which is formed from a plan chart having a plurality of feature points for which the position relationship has already been obtained is captured, and calibration is performed on the basis of the image-capturing result of the calibration pattern (refer to “A Flexible New Technique for Camera Calibration”).
Furthermore, a technology in which feature points are detected from an image used to obtain a disparity image, a calibration parameter for specifying an image-capturing direction, the calibration parameter being used to perform calibration of a camera, is obtained, and calibration is performed using the obtained calibration parameter, has been proposed (refer to “Self-calibration of stereo camera, Fumiaki TOMITA, et al., Information Processing, May 1990”).